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Purchasing A Background Check Service

These are the top background check services on the market today. Read on for in-depth details on features, plans, and pricing.

BeenVerified

Highly accurate results on several categories

Easy search functionality

Smartphone apps

BeenVerified is a background check service that delivers superior results. BeenVerified reports tend to have a lot more information in them than other background checks you could use—and they’re more accurate, too. The service doesn’t offer tiered plans, which means you’ll get the most comprehensive information possible about your subject whether you’re a member, trying out the service, or only interested in a one-time report.

In terms of pricing, BeenVerified offers a single month, 3-month, or 6-month plans. If you sign up for the 6-month plan, you can save more than 50% on the monthly fee, so this is certainly worth the contract if you are looking for savings. For an additional fee, you can get a premium background check that gives you access to even more databases and provides information like employment and education background.

BeenVerified has a sleek smartphone app. While this isn’t imperative for a background check service, it makes a lot of the experience easier. For example, you can submit your request, look over records found, and review your background check report anywhere you want and at any time via your smartphone. Another feature that makes BeenVerified really stand out is the Court Runner option. For another $20, you can have an agent hand sift through court files for documents that haven’t been digitized and are only available by going in person and wading through the courts records. Want to get some dirt on anyone?

TruthFinder

Social media accounts and posts

Accolades for best service

Most in-depth reporting

Whether you’re looking for an old friend, want information on a new neighbor, or are curious about what the person on the other side of a blind date is hiding, TruthFinder can help you do just that: find out the truth. With an incredibly exhaustive search algorithm, TruthFinder helps you find out information about the person you’re looking into. Get details about current and previous living addresses, employment records, and criminal charges. TruthFinder even digs deep into people’s social media accounts, showing you posts, videos, and photos. Here’s what else you can access with a background report from TruthFinder:

Online activity

Arrest records

Sex offender registration

Minor and major felonies

Misdemeanors

And, in case you were nervous that the person you are checking into will find out what you're up to, TruthFinder ensures that all searches are 100% secure. TruthFinder holds a fabulous reputation for getting the most information possible and holds several accolades from well-known publications like The Huffington Post, CNET, and DailyMail.com.

TruthFinder can even help you find out if there’s anything erroneously reported about you in the databases, so you can clear your slate of any misinformation. Get everything you want to know about so-and-so from relatives to friends, snapshots, and email addresses—TruthFinder uncovers the truth you’ve been searching for.

Instant Checkmate

Option for unlimited reports

24/7 customer support

$1 trial for 5 days

Instant Checkmate is another popular background check service that really pulls out all the stops to get you the information you’re looking for. If a deep dive into the person you are searching for is what you want, along with an almost free trial and round the clock customer support staff, then Instant Checkmate is the background check service for you.

Working with Instant Checkmate is a pleasure. It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3 to search for someone from the clean and beautifully-designed website. What’s more, the background check reports are neatly organized, color-coordinated, and so intuitively formatted that it’s a breeze to understand each section.

Reports come with some incredibly detailed sections including criminal records, contact information, marriage and divorce records, licenses, social media accounts, and court judgements. You can even see a background check on the featured relatives that come up on your report. Talk about attention to detail. Of course, you might not need all of that information in your report. If that’s the case, you can opt for a simpler version of the background check. Instant Checkmate lets you choose from 3 reporting options: email reports, standard reports, and premium reports.

Purchasing a Background Check Service

Spend a little time on Google and you should be able to find at least a minimal amount of information about people you know. You may find social media accounts, blog posts, and even news articles in which they may have been mentioned.

Searching the internet yourself may work for people you already a bit about, but it may not work as well for a potential date, for example. If you really want to get an extensive and well-organized report, you’re going to need to use a paid background check service. When you consider costs and pricing you may find it’s not as expensive as you thought.

Paid background searches can help you find out about any skeletons that new neighbor may be hiding, and they can also help you find out if there’s anything about you that can potentially be unearthed and used against you.

A word of caution though – the Fair Credit Reporting Act prohibits the use of background checks for potential employees or tenants, unless you inform them beforehand and they agree in writing. Most paid background check companies state this on their websites in plain sight.

What Is a Background Check?

An online background check service meticulously and methodically scours all corners of the web to gather information about the person you’re searching. Most of the records the services have access to are records you could theoretically find yourself, but it would take you weeks, if not months. Background check services can flip through all files and produce a detailed report for you in under 5 minutes.

Online background checks go beyond just criminal records – they can dig up credit history, employment history, financial records and other information that show the life someone has lived and also if they are who they say they are.

Why Would You Use a Background Check?

With the permission of the person in question, companies considering applicants for employment or a loan often carry out checks in order to cover all their bases and make sure the person won’t be a liability for the company. On a more personal level, these days more and more people are using background checks to screen potential childcare professionals. Before trusting someone with their children, many people opt to do a background screen on the potential babysitter or nanny, even if they’ve already undergone an agency screening.

What To Look for in a Quality Background Check Service?

Report Information Accuracy

Inaccurate reports not only stand in the way of you meeting your needs, but they can also set you up for expensive liabilities. The best background check services will have a reputation for accuracy and professionalism that will help you make an informed decision.

Search Customization

It’s good to cast a wide net, but not all background checks are the same. You may want to be more specific and focus on employment history or financial records, and you need a company that can really narrow down the results to what you’re looking for. A top background check service will have different levels of background screenings so that you’re always getting the information you need for your situation.

Ease of Use

You’re not a private detective and you shouldn’t need any professional or tech know-how to navigate a background check site. The best background check websites should be easy-to-use and provide information in a format that is simple and clear. The best services provide you with the easiest method possible and the fastest turnaround time.

Customer Support

Top background checks will have a strong customer support team that knows the ins and outs of the field and will be able to answer whatever questions you may have. If for some reason your search keeps running into walls, they should be able to tell you why. Furthermore, record search companies should be focused on getting the best results for their customers, and not trying to upsell searches that may not be relevant to what you need.

A paid search is a great way to find the information that you need but may not be able to find on your own. With most paid companies, the information will be collected and sent to you in a format that is easy to read and well organized.

Find What You’re Looking For

All of the information you need to make an informed decision about which background check service to use is spread out in front of you. Understand what each service offers by reading through detailed reviews that contain pricing packages, service terms, pros and cons, and more. The service that’s right for you is out there; it’s now up to you to decide which to choose.

This site is a free online resource that strives to offer helpful content and comparison features to its visitors. Please be advised that the operator of this site accepts advertising compensation from companies that appear on the site, and such compensation impacts the location and order in which the companies (and/or their products) are presented, and in some cases may also impact the rating that is assigned to them. To the extent that ratings appear on this site, such rating is determined by our subjective opinion and based on a methodology that aggregates our analysis of brand market share and reputation, each brand's conversion rates, compensation paid to us and general consumer interest. Company listings on this page DO NOT imply endorsement. Except as expressly set forth in our Terms of Use, all representations and warranties regarding the information presented on this page are disclaimed. The information, including pricing, which appears on this site is subject to change at any time.

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